GCSE ASSESSMENT PRACTICE
GCSE ASSESSMENT PRACTICE: AQA
2. Planning and research
Your teacher will have helped you study your text and taught you how
to approach the topics. He or she will now advise you on how to carry
out further research and plan for your task.
• During this phase you can work with others, for example discussing
ideas and sharing resources on the internet.
• Your teacher can give you general feedback during this phase, but
not detailed advice.
• You must keep a record of all the source materials you use,
including websites.
3. Writing up the response
This will take place under timed, supervised conditions.
• It may be split into more than one session, in which case your
teacher will collect your work at the end of the session and put it
away until the beginning of the next. You will not have access to it
between sessions.
• You may be allowed to take an un-annotated copy of the text into
the session.
• You may be allowed to take in some brief notes.
• You may be allowed access to a dictionary or a thesaurus.
• You may be allowed to produce your assessment electronically, but you
will not be allowed access to the internet, email, disks or memory sticks.
• During this time, you may not communicate with other candidates.
The work you produce must be entirely your own.
• Your teacher will advise you on how much you should aim to write.
4. Marking
Your Controlled Assessment Task will be marked by your teacher and
moderated (supervised and checked) by your exam board.
General examiners’ note
Remember:
• you will get marks for responding to the task, but not for writing other
material that is not relevant
• you must produce an individual response to the task in the final assessment,
even if you have discussed ideas with other students previously.
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How
to succeed in
AQA English Literature
Your teachers will decide whether you should write about Macbeth in a
Controlled Assessment Task (Unit 3) or an Examination (Unit 4). These
two units are very different, so you need to be absolutely sure which one
you are taking. If you are in any in doubt, ask your teacher.
Examiner’s tip
Refer back to pages 200–1 for more about the assessment objectives you will
be assessed on in Unit 3 Controlled Assessment or Unit 4 Exam.
Unit 3 Controlled Assessment Task
If you take this unit, you have to write about a Shakespeare play and one
other text that your teacher will choose. It may be a novel, a selection of
poetry, another play or even another Shakespeare play. The two texts will
be linked in some way and you are expected to write about both.
The task
AQA will give your teacher a number of tasks to choose from. There are
two main topics:
1. Themes and ideas
These tasks might involve writing about power and conflict, the
supernatural and fate, ambition, loyalty and treachery. For example:
Explore the ways writers present the supernatural in the texts you have
studied or Explore the ways writers present and use ideas about loyalty
in the texts you have studied.
2. Characterisation and voice
These tasks might involve writing about relationships, the presentation
of good or evil characters, or characters who change in some way. For
example: Explore the ways the texts present murderers in the texts you
have studied or Explore the ways the texts show how people can be
influenced by others in the texts you have studied.
Your response
• You have to complete a written response to ONE task. This should be
about 2,000 words, but remember that it’s quality not quantity that
counts.
• You have FOUR hours to produce your work. Your teacher will
probably ask you to complete the task over separate sessions rather
than in a single sitting.
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GCSE ASSESSMENT PRACTICE: AQA
GCSE ASSESSMENT PRACTICE: AQA
• Your teacher will give you plenty of time to prepare for the task.
You can use any resources you like, but do keep a record of them
(including websites). You must include a list of these at the end of your
task.
• You can work in a small group to research and prepare your material
but your final work must be all your own.
• Do watch different versions of the play. You can refer to the different
versions when you write your response and you will be given credit for
this.
• You can refer to brief notes when you are writing your response, but these
must be brief. You must hand in your notes at the end of each session and
on completion of the task. You can also use a copy of the play without
any annotations.
• You can handwrite your response or use a word processor. You are
allowed a dictionary and thesaurus or grammar and spell-check programs.
You are NOT allowed to use the internet, email, disks or memory sticks
when writing your response.
• You can do the Controlled Assessment Task in January or June. When you
have finished, your teachers will mark your work and then send a sample
from your school to AQA to be checked.
Examiner’s tip
The Controlled Assessment Task is worth 25 per cent of your final English
Literature mark – so it’s worth doing it well.
How to get a good grade
1. Select what you write about carefully. It is better to write a lot about a
little. Concentrate on one scene in Shakespeare and one chapter in a
novel or a single poem, or on two characters, one from a Shakespeare
play and one from a novel.
2. Use short, relevant quotations. Every time you include a quotation,
consider the language the writer has used and the probable effect on
the audience.
3. Never retell the story. You and your teachers already know it. If you
find yourself doing this, stop and refocus on the question.
4. Check your spellings, in particular writers’ and characters’ names.
5. Always remember that Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and the other
characters in the play are not real. Do not write about them as if they
are. They have been created by Shakespeare: he’s the important person
to consider.
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Sample Controlled Assessment Task
Explore the ways writers present characters who are influenced by others.
Here are extracts from responses written by two students. Both are writing
about the dialogue between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in Act 1 Scene 7.
Extract 1 Grade C response
Explains
effect
Could be
developed
more
Very sudden
ending
– needs
much more
development
In this scene Lady Macbeth makes sure that her husband
will do exactly what she wants him to do. Macbeth wants
to stop the murder and says ‘We will proceed no further’.
He tells his wife that King Duncan has honoured him and he
wants to enjoy his new importance. Lady Macbeth is having
nothing of it. She’s only after one thing and that’s to be
Queen. She calls him a coward and compares him to a cat
that wants fish but doesn’t want to get his paws wet.
She means that Macbeth wants to be king but doesn’t
want to do anything dangerous to become king. Macbeth
replies that he is a real man and will dare to do anything.
But he is still worried about what will happen if they
fail. Lady Macbeth dismisses this idea as being impossible
‘we’ll not fail’. By the end of the scene Macbeth has been
persuaded to carry on with the plan. The audience is now
waiting for the murder to be committed.
Relevant
textual detail
Sustains
explanation
Good point
with relevant
quotation
Examiner’s comments
• The student clearly understands some of Shakespeare’s ideas and uses
of language in the speech.
• Not all points are fully explained and backed up; for example, Lady
Macbeth’s accusation of cowardice.
• There is a general understanding of how Lady Macbeth influences her
husband, although the effects on Macbeth and the audience are not
considered in much detail.
• This is a Grade C response. To improve, this student needs to develop
ideas in more detail and to link these details to a more thoughtful
consideration of the scene.
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GCSE ASSESSMENT PRACTICE: AQA
GCSE ASSESSMENT PRACTICE: AQA
Extract 2 Grade A response
Analytic use
of detail
Insight into
motivation
The entry of Lady Macbeth interrupts her husband’s
Clear,
detailed
soliloquy. The word ‘side’ is left unsaid although the
statement
meaning is clear: at this point of the play Macbeth
is clearly presenting to the audience the concept that
Awareness
‘Vaulting ambition’ may well bring dangers. The interruption
of effect on
leads to a series of fractured pentameters as Shakespeare
audience
creates tension. This is heightened both by the way
questions are answered with others to create a sense of
confusion and also the way in which Duncan is referred
to as ‘he’, showing how both characters prefer euphemism
to clear statement. The questions are ended by Macbeth’s
statement ‘We will proceed no further in this business’.
Exploration
Again ‘business’ is a euphemism. Macbeth also uses ‘we’.
of language
This may suggest that he believes that he and his wife
are joint conspirators in the murder and are a bonded
team, yet it may also suggest that Macbeth has begun
to imitate Duncan’s use of ‘the royal we’: Duncan has
spoken of ‘our graces towards him’ in the previous scene.
These have become ‘Golden opinions from all sorts of
people’. Macbeth believes himself to be universally admired
and liked. Being held in high esteem is very important to
Insight
into theme
him. Some people, for example his wife, might see that
as a form of weakness.
Examiner’s comments
• The student shows a clear engagement with Shakespeare’s ideas and
the attitudes of Macbeth.
• There is evidence of a sophisticated interpretation and a perceptive
exploration of Shakespeare’s use of language.
• The student has written a lot about a little but has also explored some
of the themes of the text as a whole.
• This is a Grade A response.
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Unit 4 Examination
If you take Unit 4 in your AQA English Literature course then you will
answer a question on a Shakespeare play in an examination. Your answer
is worth 20 per cent of your total Literature mark and you will need to
spend about 40 minutes on this question.
The Shakespeare question will always have two parts. Each is worth ten
per cent of your total mark so you must spend equal time on them.
• Part (a) of each question will ask you to write about a specific extract
that is printed in the exam paper. This extract may be a monologue
(spoken by one character) or a part of a scene where two or more
characters are talking.
• Part (b) of each question will ask you to write about the same topic but
relating to a different part of the play (there will not be a printed extract
in the exam paper to refer to).
Sample
examination questions and responses
Part (a) How does Shakespeare show Lady Macbeth’s thoughts and
feelings in the extract below?
Part (b) How does Shakespeare show Lady Macbeth’s feelings in a
different part of the play?
Lady Macbeth: The raven himself is hoarse
...
To cry, “Hold, hold!”
(see page 39 lines 37–53 for full quotation)
Examiner’s tip
The first part of each question asks ‘How does Shakespeare . . .?’ The ‘how’
is important. It means you must consider Shakespeare’s use of language,
referring to specific words and phrases and the effects these create.
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